Food products comprising a shell that encloses a soft filling and is covered externally with at least one coating layer are well know, particularly in the form of confectionary products. For example, the Ferrero.RTM. Group markets candies under the trademarks Rocher.RTM. and Confetteria Raffaello.RTM. in which a filling is enclosed in a shell of two hemispherical wafer half-shells covered in chocolate.
However, these known food products suffer from shortcomings. In particular, known products are unsuitable from both strictly technological and organoleptic points of view for production in the form of a chilled product. For example, one well-known food product uses warm binders, such as molten chocolate, in forming the shell. The warm binders are inherently incompatible with chilled products because the warm binders generally solidify at lower temperatures. An alternative process of producing food products at warm temperatures and subsequently cooling the food products is also undesirable because this production method degrades food product's taste and appeal. For example, cooled food may become undesirably chewy or hard.
Accordingly, there is a need for a food product having a shell, a filling within the shell, and an outer covering that can be chilled while preserving desirable organoleptic characteristics. Furthermore, there is a need for a method to produce, at relatively low temperatures, food products having a shell, a filling within the shell, and an outer covering.